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Topic: Going to Alaska next summer and have some questions.... (Read 23151 times)

I have read up on things you can and can't take into Canada, and the need for a passport. My questions are more about the timing of entering into Canada, and heading to our eventual destination of Alaska. How late in the year could I safely enter Canada and head to Alaska without the danger of campgrounds starting to close on me?

I don't like blasting through and prefer to take a leisurely pace, stopping for 2-3 days between driving days. Figure to spend a a couple of weeks touring in Alaska and head back. I don't want to have to race back to avoid closed campgrounds or snowstorms.

We have planned to enter Canada in Blaine WA, the first week of August and head up the Alaskan highway, an probably return on the Casair highway. Will we have time to do that?

I appreciate any advice or comments regarding travel and campgrounds to hit or avoid. We will have a copy of the Milepost when we go, so we will have the basic information.

I'm sure this varies year to year, but in 2000 we left Great Falls, MT on May 24 and returned to Coeur d'Alene, ID on about August 15. We enjoyed exceptional weather and never felt rushed. We went up the Alcan to Fairbanks, crossed through Denali, explored the Kenai Peninsula and returned via the Casiar.

I'm not sure leaving in August would afford you enough time to truly enjoy the wonderful trip.

Well, the start of the Alaska Highway is way over in Alberta but you don't need to go that far to the east. Unless you also want to visit Jasper and Banff which you might as well if you're coming up our way.

If you are coming down Cassiar you will want to see the Bear Glacier which is a bit to the west on Highway 37A. There was a posting here a while back talking about now nice it still is. If you go to Google Earth and search on Bear Glacier Park, BC you'll find it. Zoom out a bit and look north and you'll see lots of photos of the glacier. Google Streetview also works there. My hint would be to visit that as late in the summer as possible so more snow melts so you can see the beauty of the blue ice.

Hmm, just looking at the photos. It's much, much smaller than I remember from 1981. (I spent five years one loong winter working in Stewart. Didn't see the sun from October to Aprli.)

You can continue on to enjoy the unique charms of Hyder, AK. In 1980 US Customs had a shack but only had someone there on July 4th.

Also why cross at Blaine unless you want to visit Vancouver? Wait times there be legendary. If you're going east cross at Sumas/Abbotsford.

We have driven up 3 times and the best trip of all was when we left Wyoming for Alaska in mid-August. As we were going up, everybody else was headed south! We had no problems with campgrounds, and it was really a treat not to have to fight the crowds. We had great weather and did not get back to Wyoming until about mid-October. We did what you mentioned - up the Alaska Highway and down the Cassiar. On the Cassiar, be sure to stop for an overnight stay at Meziadin Lake - we had a site right on the water's edge.

You cannot begin to see Alaska in a couple of weeks. Heck, it takes a week to get there from Blaine, and that is not at a leisurely pace. Remember that Alaska is 3x larger than Texas, and there is something like 1500 miles of BC and Yukon to cross to get to Alaska proper (not the panhandle). Even a month is a quick trip to see a few of the highlights. We spent 9 weeks and never made it to Fairbanks or Denali, two of the major destinations. ANd there is as much to see and do in BC & Yukon as in Alaska, plus the delights of Hyder in the panhandle.

Sarge, we are going next summer also. Look over your milepost, great info. Look at the vehicle prep section. I recommend the screening for the bottom of the MH to prevent street sweeping, lots of gravel with road repairs etc.We are planning app. 6 k miles and 6 weeks to do it in, starting at milepost 1. Haven't finished our route yet but will share it if you want. They say the rain and mosquitoes are worse as it gets later in summer so some start their trip in June. The few short times I have been there I couldn't tell the difference.

Do read the trip logs that several of us have put in the forum library. It will give you an idea of how long it takes to see many parts of AK as well as the places on the way up and back. We spent 99 days on our trip and didn't see everything.

I think you need a minimum of six weeks within Alaska itself. We hit Alaska on June 1st and were there for almost two months. That was a tad early because many things don't open for the season until mid-June. As Gary mentioned, the distances are huge! On our second trip we drove to Prince Rupert, took the Alaska ferry to Skagway, then went up to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory (five days there), crossed the Yukon River to Chicken AK, down to Tok, across to Fairbanks, down to Denali, Homer on the Kenai peninsula, Anchorage, and back through Tok and Valdez. We returned on the Alcan and down the Cassiar to Stewart and Hyder before Banff and the Icefields Parkway.

Getting a copy of the Milepost is mandatory so you know what you're looking at and see those big distances. There used to be one for the Pacific Northwest in addition to the Alaska edition. Also, there's a lot to see and do before even getting to Alaska. BC has the world's second largest aluminum smelter and you can tour it. They also had a number of different lumber-related mills we toured - oriented strand board, finger joining, lumber cutting, etc. The area that stretches from Seattle to Dawson City is an international park devoted to the Yukon gold rush. The Alaska pipeline is interesting. Between seeing all the manmade things and all that Mother Nature has to offer in the way of scenery, wildlife, glaciers, and such you'd be hard-pressed to see it all in a short time.

You might want to go to an army surplus store and get mosquito hats to protect yourself from Alaska's state "bird", especially at places like Denali. Alaska's a beautiful and interesting place so you should enjoy it. But, as the natives say, if the Fireweed is nearing the top of its stalk it's time to go south and that can happen pretty early. By the way, on two trips the only reservations we ever made were at the end of the ferry ride so we'd know there was a place to stay on arrival.

Sarge, we were going to go Alaska this summer (2011), then we damaged the sides of the coach, so we are going next year. In our planning we decided to get to Alaska about the first of July and stay until the first of September or longer, depending on the fireweed . That's really only 8 weeks and I'm not sure that would have been long enough. Our thinking was it's a long way there and we wanted to see and do as much as we could. Plus we wanted to take our time actually getting there and returning.

Next summer (2012) we plan on trying for Alaska again and will be leaving central California the middle of May heading up the coast and spending time in the Northwest (Seattle, Mt Olympus etc) then a bunch of time in BC.

One of the things we learned on our Labrador/Newfoundland /Maritimes trip was that we literally ran out of time. We had such a great time in Newfoundland that we stretched a 2 week trip into a one month trip just because we loved it so much.

It looks like there will be a number of RVForum members up in Alaska in 2012. We need to plan a mini-rally at some point.

My dream in Alaska is to park the rig next to a river and fly fish to my heart's content!

When we went in 2002 (wow - didn't realize it was that long ago!), we spent 4th of July in Hyder (panhandle) and then headed to the main Alaska border. We were back in Hyder for 9/11, so just shy of 8 weeks in Alaska & Yukon (cause you have to include the Top of the World Hwy & Dawson City,YK and Chicken, AK in any tour). We stayed 3-5 days in many splendid places, so ran out of time. Would try to get there a few days earlier if we were to do it again.

And you don't want to stay late - fuel stations and restaurants along the Alaska Hwy start shutting down right after Labor Day. Not just closed - they have sold out of fuel and food.

We are seriously re-thinking the time table for the trip. I think we need to start a little earlier and stay a little longer. We just will skip the GNR next year and return in 2013. I want to give Alaska all the attention we need to make the trip worth while. Thanks for the heads up!

We are seriously re-thinking the time table for the trip. I think we need to start a little earlier and stay a little longer. We just will skip the GNR next year and return in 2013. I want to give Alaska all the attention we need to make the trip worth while. Thanks for the heads up!

Sarge While I am very happy you may have revised your Alaska timeline, I'd like to offer my humble opinion. In 2003 we took a Cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines through the Inside Passage. We loved it and took a few shore trips to Alaskan highlights . I thought I had seen "Alaska" until we traveled there in our motorhome. Our land trip started in June and ended in September. ( look up our journal in RVForum library) You will have a good time no matter how much time you spend. You will enjoy the time you have to spend no matter what it is. I hope you can manage as much time as possible as it is a magnificient state. Enjoy Alaska.

That Betty Brewer is a sneaky one! We were headed to Oregon this year, stopping at the Tetons on the way up. "Oh!" Betty says, "you have to stop at Yellowstone - it's amazing!" - two months later, we hated to leave, spent another month in northern Montana, and got a taste of the Canadian Rockies. No Oregon this year! A wise one, that Betty....

So next year, several of us are going from Moab to Oregon and Washington (Betty will be muffled at that Frally) and then sniff the Vancouver area if possible. We are not able to make the journey to Alaska yet because I am still working from the coach, but it will be the first trip after retirement. We do want to see the options for how we make that jump from the lower 48.

We, too, have been advised to allocate as much time as possible and prepare to be as flexible as possible. But even though we have not been there, I think Betty is probably right - you don't have to do it all the first time, but you surely need to enjoy the part you do!

Looking forward to your preparations and will certainly weigh all the experiences. Thanks for posting this!

We've never enjoyed a trip as much as ours to Alaska in 2010. As others have said, you'll enjoy it no matter when you go or how long you stay. When we go again, we want to go up in late June and plan to follow the Fall colors all the way down with a plan to be in New Mexico about October 1st.

I think it's worthwhile to drive the Alaska Hwy at least one way. There's a bunch of History that's worth your time.

Oh Yes! And every little town has a museum. We thought we'd tire of them, but the towns have managed to have enough variety that each one is unique. I'm not sure which town it was, but the museum was a fascinting view of the gold rush. They had letters that were well worth the time to read. And then marvel at the hardships those people endured. Whitehorse has several museums. The one on transportation has everything from mushing to trains to float planes. Which reminds me, when you get to Fairbanks expect to see more float planes than you've ever seen in your life. Actually, now that I think about it, this will be your first trip to Alaska!

I see, like us, that you have a Rubicon. Unless I missed it, I have seen nothing in this thread on the subject of towing the toad or not. I have done it both ways, and I recommend leaving it at home.

Case in point - On our first trip, when we got to Ft. Nelson, we decided to jog north up to the Northwest Territories, just to say we had been there. We were in a 32' Bounder, towing a Jeep Cherokee. After about 10 miles on the gravel road, we decided enough was enough - the gravel was bombarding the Jeep and I couldn't see a couple of hundred miles of it. Problem was, no place to turn around. We wound up unhooking the Jeep, drove another 15 miles or so in the MH, turned it around, drove back, turned the Jeep around, hooked up again and drove back to the Alaska Highway. A big waste of time!

This was minor, but the biggest drawback of towing is that it seriously limits you in terms of places you can park, sideroads you can take, campgrounds you can venture into, etc. etc. IMHO, you will never miss not having it with you.

Thanks Bill, but unfortunately as full timers we don't have a lot of choice of where we leave it. I may look into a rock guard of some sort. Fortunately the Rubicon sits up fairly high so usually gravel and such are not much of an issue. Thanks for the heads up though.

Like Jeff, we want our toad. The first time to Alaska we didn't have one and realized the second time how limited we were in exploring without it. There are a lot of places up there where you wouldn't want to take your motorhome. A good example is the residential area high above Homer. The views are fantastic but the roads are not suitable for large vehicles.

In our opinion we would have missed so much without our toad. We had no trouble finding places to overnight with our 40 foot rig and toad. In fact we had Russ with us in his identical set up and we found places to overnight along the road for 2 rigs, in campgrounds and whereever we wanted. We did have the 3M protection stuff put on front of our GMC envoy. When we took our trip to the Northwest Territories we left our motorhome at a campground and took the car over 950 miles of the Dempster HIghway. Then we flew to Inuivik and overnighted in a small cabin meant for hunters. This was the highlight of our trip

We sort of planned on replacing a windsheild on either coach or toad, having heard stories, but the damage we received ( a big rock chip in windsheild) was encountered in Montana on our way home. Every situation will be unique. One can never predict nor guarantee the same results on a different trip. Be flexible and have a blast!Betty

That transparent carpet film isn't very thick - not sure it would slow down a flying stone enough to avoid a chip. The clear paint protection film is thicker and sturdier, but most of them are more or less permanent. Maybe overkill, but useful after the trip as well.

I applied 2 sheets of the film on the grill and there were several marks from rock strikes but no damage or erosion. In comparison I forgot to cover the front of the mirrors on the CRV and the left one had to be repainted.

We too were planning on getting to Alaska in the near future...not sure if next year or the following. My DH is worried about taking our MH to Alaska. He's heard horror stories about the damage done to the paint of both the MH and the toad. Since many of you have gone up there in the past few years what are your thoughts about this? Heard somewhere that the roads have been improved??Thanks.Mikie

We too were planning on getting to Alaska in the near future...not sure if next year or the following. My DH is worried about taking our MH to Alaska. He's heard horror stories about the damage done to the paint of both the MH and the toad. Since many of you have gone up there in the past few years what are your thoughts about this? Heard somewhere that the roads have been improved??

Every year the roads will be different depending on the kind of winter they had to endure. We found the most reliable info on highways to be the truckers at the fuel stops who had just come from the direction we were going. We found bumpy roads and the secret was to go really slow. You can't do the speeds you usually do. Bumpy road speeds for us were between 20 and 35 mph. So plan routes accordingly and allow plenty of time. Most stretches of bad road only lasted a few miles. I woud never avoid Alaska because of roads.

I agree. My rig already has the 3M mask on the front end. And I have already fixed a window chip that I got driving in the mid west somewhere. As for the Jeep, it spends lots of time on gravel roads already. I wouldn't miss one of the most spectacular RV trips in the country worrying about paint chips. I get em in the lower 48. Just take some reasonable precautions and go for it.

The reason you have an RV is to be able to take it places like Alaska and Canada. They're both wonderful places to visit! Yes, there are the occasional horror stories, but those happen everywhere. Like the others said, take reasonable precautions and slow down on roads with frost heaves. The biggest road problems are during construction and of course that's when we from the Lower 48 travel up there. Construction areas are just like here when they replace a road - lots of gravel to contend with. But I'd never even think of not going because the RV might get a rock chip or have something break!

We just left Alaska about a week ago. We had a great time even though it was kind of cool and wet this year. We entered Canada in the middle of July ,spent about three weeks in Canada then onto Alaska for about a month. We would have stayed longer but it was getting pretty cold. The fall leaves were spectacular!

We did the loop backwards - Cassiar Hwy -Whitehorse-Skagway-Haines-Fairbanks-Anchorage-Kenai Pennsula-Dawson City-Whitehorse-Watson Lake-Dawson Creek - with some side trips. Most of the time we had the roads almost to ourselves , the same with public campgrounds. Even staying past tourist season we found that there were still enough campgrounds and dump stations opened that it wasn't a problem. You do have to fill your tank at every opportunity because some of the tiny gas station/campground/stores along more remote sections of the highways do close early. Some have gone out of business so you can't count on old information.

Yes , we always travel with full tanks. Our fresh lasts for 4-5 days , by then we have to dump anyway. We usually dry camp at public campgrounds or boondock. Dump stations aren't a problem because most towns have a city owned one or a gas station with one.

I always keep my fresh tank full also. More out of habit than anything as we stay in CG's more than we boondock. I just assumed most folks did this also but maybe not. Guess it's just the way I learned but I thought it's better to keep water moving through the fresh water system/pump and use the hook-up pretty much for just refilling the tank. If we are staying in one place for 2 or 3 days then I will usually hook up the water.

In the lower 48 I usually only run with about 20% fresh water. With a 100 gallon fresh capacity that is a lot of weight to haul around "just in case". I am assuming that there will be some significant grades on the way north?

In the lower 48 I usually only run with about 20% fresh water. With a 100 gallon fresh capacity that is a lot of weight to haul around "just in case". I am assuming that there will be some significant grades on the way north?

Looking at the map going North, it must be uphill all the way to the North Pole. Then from there it is all downhill again going South. You have to have a weird mind to understand that, like I have.

One reference book that we found very useful during our two trips to Alaska was Alaskan Camping by Mike and Terri Church, it does a much better job of rating campgrounds than does the Milepost. I too would suggest at least 2 months in Alaska, there is just so much to see. One of the highlights of our trip was Denali, I certainly would recommend camping at Teklanika River Campground and using the shuttle buses to see the park.

Tough winter up here this year~4th largest snowfall ever recorded in Anchorage thus far. With about 2' exceeding #1 and it not even being March yet, I am sure we will make 2nd or 3rd largest snowfall ever recorded in Anchorage and maybe even beat the record.

Did the 11 day inner passage cruise 12 yrs ago .. Planning on driving it next year - leaving on the trip 3rd week in May 2013, hit Alaska arounf June 1st, spend 2 months there, then 2 weeks coming down the N and NE route of CN.......... Have several trips yet between now and end of year but then I need to get started with gathering info from those of you that have done it already and start planning ours ...

Just wanted to say that I have found this thread and others very entertaining and very helpful as I plan my own trip to Alaska. I will be leaving around the first week of May 2014 on my first Alaska trip from Niagara Falls then heading north toward the Northwest Territories. I plan to stop and visit everything in between before heading on to the Yukon and then Alaska. I had originally planned 2-3 months but see now that I will need more time. When does the snow start to fly up that way??

BTW ... has anyone every driven up to Barrow during their trips?? I understand that some have but it can be a challenging trip with the large trucks and gravel/stone roads etc.

I am doing my Maritime Province and Newfoundland trip next year and have planned upwards of 3 months for that ... more if necessary. That's the nice thing about being on my own and retired. Time is not an issue.

Thanks again for some great information ... I'm heading to the "Library" shortly to check out some of the info there.

Karsty

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2012 Winnebago ERA.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain